Ask me your questions about WVU...

[WVMULE]

WV will not be able to stop our running game.

Last year that would have been true, but this year Mountaineer team is completely different on the defensive line. Much bigger, more experienced and far more depth.

In 2017 WVU had a true frosh starting at NG and two sophomores at DE. E. Rose eventually won one of the DE spot from Shuler but Rose was a JC kid in his first year with the program.

In 2018 Rose, 6'2 - 276, is a preseason All Big 12 pick. Kenny Bigelow, 6-4-307, is a 5* transfer from USC, Jabril Robinson, 6-2-273, is a transfer from Clemson. Donahue is up to 276 pounds and has a year of experience. But the two game changers might be WV natives Darius and Dante Stills. Darius was a RS last year and put on about 50 lbs of muscle and bulk. He's 6'4 and 289 lbs. His brother Dante is a freak. The younger Stills is 296 pounds and runs like a linebacker.

Robinson and Bigelow have, by all accounts, came into the program and became leaders from day 1.

So WVU has seriously upgraded its DL... they have the depth, experience and strength they lacked last year.

By the way... LB David Long is the heart and soul of the WVU defense. The kid is a human missile and Mr. TFL. He missed the first four games of 2017 and really wasn't himself until game 6,

 

[TJ1985]

Rooster, just stop, dude. Yall barely beat the most underperforming team in UT history... barely. SC is overrated and will always be scraps in the SEC.

 

[WVMULE]

What kind of success do you expect from WV's O and D lines this season? By all accounts I've heard y'alls O-line should be pretty good. I'm very curious about y'alls D-line with UT having a young or even a new QB in a new system and this being the 1st game.

I'd like to know you guys have a subpar D-line and our QB have plenty of time to get comfortable in live fire. If he cant, I don't like our chances at all.

WVU's offensive line is one of the best, and biggest, in the nation. Yodney Cajuste and Colton McKivitiz are guys with good feet who rarely get beaten and pancake a lot of defenders. Last year the 0-line struggled at times due to inexperience in both guard positions and center. Josh Sills and Isiah Hardy are bigger, stronger and more experienced with another year. C Matt Jones was likewise up and down during his first year as a starter but again showed promise. Consistency was the issue for the young guys.

Jones has lost the starting job to Jacob Buccigrossi but both will play. Transfer Mike and Joe Brown add bulk and meanness to the guard positions.

The DL... completely different. The issue last year again was youth, inexperience and two guys who were cancers on the team. Because of transfers the outright freakness of Dante Stills the DL went from a weakness to the strongest unit on the team... if it stays healthy.

Keep in mind they haven't played together as a unit before... so they might need time to gel.

 

[WVMULE]

Other than Grier, what other starters for WVU would supplant starters for UT ( offense and defense)? BTW, if you do not listen to Slayer, begin immediately.

Every WR.... David Long, Dante Stills, Jabril Robinson, Cajuste, McKivitz, Kenny Robinson, Javoni Haskins, Isiah Hardy and maybe a few more.

This IS the most talented team ever at WVU. I count 10 future NFL players on offense and 6 on defense. No joke. I'm not saying picks in rounds 1-3 but they will be on some NFL roster somewhere.

 

[WVMULE]

I admit I am an UT optimist. I think that UT will have a much better defense the advertised (maybe running game) and keep pressure on WVU. Hopefully, UT can shorten the game/lower scoring by 25-50%. How is the WVU special teams?

Let's not talk about special teams.

 

[WVMULE]

Pshhh. Yeah, well, they're going to get smacked in the mouth early and often. If there's one prediction that I will make, it's that we're going to be physical. The personality and philosophy of our coaching staff demands it. Regardless of who wins this game, WVU will be a lesser team when it faces its next opponent.

Ya know... that's what we say about the Big 12. WVU is physical. WVU plays tough. Especially on defense.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

I'll ask again since my question wasnt answered. Tell be about WVUs starting corners. I've heard a significant contributor was injured. And you're replacing 2 starters
How experienced are your DBs?

 

[WVMULE]

You're right.

Well, WVU i.e. Morgantown is in the Pittsburg DMA. WVU also outperforms Maryland in most of Maryland.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

Ya know... that's what we say about the Big 12. WVU is physical. WVU plays tough. Especially on defense.

is that why they play 5 DBs in their base D?

 

[Zues1]

Damnnnnnn, sounds like were about to face the Green Bay Packers. Just don't seem fair.
Hopefully your guys hold back a bit and dont beat our boys to a pulp, we have more games to play.
Apparently against inferior opponents than the Mountain men team looking to show the world they are the real deal Lucille.

 

[WVMULE]

I'll ask again since my question wasnt answered. Tell be about WVUs starting corners. I've heard a significant contributor was injured. And you're replacing 2 starters
How experienced are your DBs?

I'll ask again since my question wasnt answered. Tell be about WVUs starting corners. I've heard a significant contributor was injured. And you're replacing 2 starters
How experienced are your DBs?

If I was scheming against WVU in 2018 I would go after the corners. Derrek Pitts, a WV native and talented kid, is a r-frosh and starting at one CB spot. The problem is he's really a safety. WVU has plenty of safeties... all talented.. all of the hybrid type... almost a lb... almost a CB... but only Hakeem Bailey is true cover corner. Hakeem is super talented and in his second year in the program. He won a starting CB spot last year and then, when the lights came on, he fizzled. Deer in the headlights... He lost his job, then started coming off the bench and slowly, by the end, of the season, he was the CB WVU thought he could be and won his job back. I make Pitts earn his spurs and Bailey prove he can play with the lights on...

If I'm any of WVU's opponents I pick on Pitts and make Bailey prove he has the nerve to play coverage on an island.

The wildcard is FS Kenny Robinson. I believe that Robinson is the best player on the team. He's fast, physical and a ball hawk. He and LB David Long are the defensive game changers for WVU.

If you beat Pitts or Bailey and go deep.... Robinson has the speed to close the gap and the skill to break up the pass and make the intp. Kenny started as a true fosh last year and bought a play fake once, twice or thrice... but the kid has game.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

If I was scheming against WVU in 2018 I would go after the corners. Derrek Pitts, a WV native and talented kid, is a r-frosh and starting at one CB spot. The problem is he's really a safety. WVU has plenty of safeties... all talented.. all of the hybrid type... almost a lb... almost a CB... but only Hakeem Bailey is true cover corner. Hakeem is super talented and in his second year in the program. He won a starting CB spot last year and then, when the lights came on, he fizzled. Deer in the headlights... He lost his job, then started coming off the bench and slowly, by the end, of the season, he was the CB WVU thought he could be and won his job back. I make Pitts earn his spurs and Bailey prove he can play with the lights on...

If I'm any of WVU's opponents I pick on Pitts and make Bailey prove he has the nerve to play coverage on an island.

The wildcard is FS Kenny Robinson. I believe that Robinson is the best player on the team. He's fast, physical and a ball hawk. He and LB David Long are the defensive game changers for WVU.

If you beat Pitts or Bailey and go deep.... Robinson has the speed to close the gap and the skill to break up the pass and make the intp. Kenny started as a true fosh last year and bought a play fake once, twice or thrice... but the kid has game.

Thanks

 

[WVMULE]

is that why they play 5 DBs in their base D?

They are not 5 DBs... The Spur and Bandit are more like linebackers. WVU will bring them up to the LoS and use them as run support. But they can cover the pass.

WVU is a blue collar team.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Mule, you're just about full of it, brother.

At first, I thought you were just proud of your team. But now, I see that you're flat-out delusional.

This is gonna be a fun game.

 

[WVMULE]

Damnnnnnn, sounds like were about to face the Green Bay Packers. Just don't seem fair.
Hopefully your guys hold back a bit and dont beat our boys to a pulp, we have more games to play.
Apparently against inferior opponents than the Mountain men team looking to show the world they are the real deal Lucille.

Look, WVU's offense is rock solid. They averaged 35 points a game last year with three new starters on the OL and Grier out for Texas and OU. On paper they are likely the best offense in CFB.

The defense had 8 new starters last year, issues on the DL and its best player out for four games. If the influx of talent on the DL shows up on the field then WVU will be a legit playoff contender. Sure the defense has its potential issues... but if they average giving up 30 points a game then WVU wins at least 10. The offense is that good.

If a team's success is predicated on how good they are up front then WVU is in good shape.

 

[K-town Vol Fan]

They are not 5 DBs... The Spur and Bandit are more like linebackers. WVU will bring them up to the LoS and use them as run support. But they can cover the pass.

WVU is a blue collar team.

Problem for you that I see is that while you say a safety who is more like a linebacker can cover, I have doubts they can cover our WRs.

 

[WVMULE]

Mule, you're just about full of it, brother.

At first, I thought you were just proud of your team. But now, I see that you're flat-out delusional.

This is gonna be a fun game.

No, like I said... this is something special for us. WVU may not have a team this good again. But to deny the talent that's there and their potential is what's delusional.

But more goes into winning games than just talent. WVU's never had much luck with the intangibles... the ball bounces funny, or the irreplaceable superstar gets injured.

How about this... accept that for only the third time in its long history that WVU has the talent to be one of the teams in the playoffs.

13-9 killed us. This is the team that could erase 13-9 from memory.

My grandpap used to say there's a long way from hither to yither. But aren't we due? How many times can Major Harris separate his shoulder or Pat White break his hand? How many times can the official call offensive pass interference on a guy for having the DB just about pull his jersey off? How many times can your star QB break his finger diving for the pylon?

If a century of bad luck and bad breaks are what it takes to get WVU into the promised land in 2018 then so be it.

Karma owes us this one.

 

[Z06VolinWV]

Mule, you're just about full of it, brother.

At first, I thought you were just proud of your team. But now, I see that you're flat-out delusional.

This is gonna be a fun game.

Beat me to it! This was enjoyable at first, but has become down right laughable.
Mule, at this rate, WVU and Bama should just skip the whole season and go ahead and play for the NC to get it over with.

 

[HalfullVol]

Happy for you WVMule.

In about 7 days the talk comes to a rest....

temporarily.

 

[WVMULE]

No, like I said... this is something special for us. WVU may not have a team this good again. But to deny the talent that's there and their potential is what's delusional.

But more goes into winning games than just talent. WVU's never had much luck with the intangibles... the ball bounces funny, or the irreplaceable superstar gets injured.

How about this... accept that for only the third time in its long history that WVU has the talent to be one of the teams in the playoffs.

13-9 killed us. This is the team that could erase 13-9 from memory.

My grandpap used to say there's a long way from hither to yither. But aren't we due? How many times can Major Harris separate his shoulder or Pat White break his hand? How many times can the official call offensive pass interference on a guy for having the DB just about pull his jersey off? How many times can your star QB break his finger diving for the pylon?

Karma owes us this one.

Problem for you that I see is that while you say a safety who is more like a linebacker can cover, I have doubts they can cover our WRs.

I would attack WVU through the air.

But again, back there lurking, is Kenny Robinson.

WVU plans to be more balanced in 2018 than 2017... more like 2016. They believe they can run the ball with power and they have four capable RBs. They know they can score quickly. They want to protect the defense and win ToP and not just yards per play.

WVU's best defensive play just might be a run up the b gap.

 

[StrictlyEducational]

Mule actually fits right in here. Severely overrated the talent on his favorite team.

 

[sjt18]

Every WR.... David Long, Dante Stills, Jabril Robinson, Cajuste, McKivitz, Kenny Robinson, Javoni Haskins, Isiah Hardy and maybe a few more.

You too are vastly, vastly underestimating the athletic talent on this UT team. I understand your excitement about your guys... but you're demonstrating serious ignorance of UT's guys. You do not have a WR that would start over Callaway or a healthy Jennings. Sorry. You just don't. Your guys succeed in a system. Nothing wrong with that... but it inflates their numbers.

I really like Long but UT's options are both bigger and faster than he is.

To say Stills would start in front of Shy Tuttle... just shows you don't know anything about Tuttle. The story is similar for most of these guys.

This IS the most talented team ever at WVU. I count 10 future NFL players on offense and 6 on defense. No joke. I'm not saying picks in rounds 1-3 but they will be on some NFL roster somewhere.

Total? Here's something to consider. UT had 3 guys drafted from its first 8 loss team... ever. A UT CB, Moseley, stands a really good shot at making an NFL roster as a UFA. Kendall Vickers (DL) and even Colton Jumper (LB) have received praise during NFL camps. Playing for Jones hurt their draft stock.... but they had talent.

My point is that in a terrible year... UT could still put as many as 6 players on an NFL roster in a single year. I understand your excitement... but you need some perspective. UGA, Bama, Auburn, UF, Mizzou, USCe… are all on UT's schedule this year. There's a good chance that every one of those teams are likely to have at least 10 players with NFL potential... they do EVERY YEAR.

Bama put 12 into this year's draft following 10 in the '17 draft.... UGA had 6. LSU in an off year had 7. UF had 5 from another 4-8 team.

WVU may win but it won't be because you have talent more overwhelming than UT sees on an every year basis from most of their SEC opponents.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

If a century of bad luck and bad breaks are what it takes to get WVU into the promised land in 2018 then so be it.

Karma owes us this one.

The fastest way to heartbreaking disappointment is to believe that the world owes you something, and will be paying off real soon.

 

[WVMULE]

Happy for you WVMule.

In about 7 days the talk comes to a rest....

temporarily.

I've followed WVU enough to know that ##$# happens. WVU has handed away games in the recent past. They could easily do so again.

 

[Type Orange+]

Karma owes us this one.

Karma can be a real b!t#h sometimes.